Blink's public discussion took place during the Perfect Wedding festival by Tanzfabrik Berlin in one of Uferstudio's newly renovated dance spaces in Berlin Wedding. This is an area signified by high unemployment rates and a big percentage of migrants, but also an artists' scene growing steadily, here finding refuge from the „lost“ grounds of expensive Prenzlauer Berg and hip Kreuzberg.

Blink takes interest in the topic of curating since that is what we are dealing with when programming Swedish dance in Berlin, which, apart from the discussion around curatorship, is what we have been doing within the Perfect Wedding-festival. To pick up the thread on this topic is for us to work in dialogue and with transparency in order to keep defining and simultaneously expanding our notions on what Blink is and what it could be.

Blink's invited panel consisted of Peter Stamer (Berlin), Heike Albrecht (Berlin) and Christina Molander (Stockholm), all busy within the dance field with activities fitting to the denomination „curating“ or „curatorship“.

Definitions on what these terms imply remained quite fluffy throughout the discussion, although quite some energy was put into defining them. Summing it up, curating seems to be a term in flux, in constant re-negotation and as such is hard to catch a hold of. Curating and hosting bear similar features, whereas etymologically curate has its roots in the latin word „collare“, which has to do with care. A curator decides what is fresh and contemporary by creating a frame for its display, suggests the moderator Kristin Tovson.

In a best case scenario the audience and the panel agreed hosting, caring and programming is what a curator might be achieving, and in a worst one mainly self-publicity. The term curator might by now be dated and to be replaced by another for the dynamics the word used to denominate to be maintained.

Heike Albrecht describes how a change took place around 2000, where the importance of how dancers work on stage, with which body techniques they are busy, with whom they collaborate and the site specificity of the work started to attract attention from other fields of art. The scope grew, and a person programming needed to be up to date with other art fields, architecture, sociological issues and politics – that was the point where Albrecht started using the word curator for herself.

A curator then, is attached to a certain reflective, theoretical attitude, which this person uses to programme various events. According to Peter Stamer, the curator works under specific circumstances such as temporary employment and migrating spatial conditions. From a financial point of view it is somebody with knowledge of the scene who allocates money in the place of e.g. a Politician.

Stamer argues against Blink's initiative to gather opinions pro or contra curatorship and points out how that sort of polemics equals positioning the artists as a power-lacking element, whereas that is not necessarily so. The artists themselves should involve much more in the Politics of their discipline in order to have a say and to take a stand in accordance with their integrity when asked to partake in a curated event.

Ideally, Stamer finds a combination of the curator's own interest mixed with that of the artists in a frame of shared responsibility for the creative process. To speak about a curator-genius is problematic – instead the focus should be on the context and structure of what is being programmed.

Albrecht describes the work of a curator as similar to that of a business-man running his own firm, where apart from a good knowledge of the arts and related themes, financial knowhow is elementary.

Does a curator, then, need education? Yes, people agree, but as Albrecht points out, to keep even steps with the constant flux of the term and organize a politically neutral haven for an educational format is a very difficult - if not impossible – task. Where such initiatives have taken place it is done in the political interest of somebody.

Christina Molander suggests there is no need to call in experts for curation, since some artists themselves are experienced enough to take on that role.

Is that the future, or perhaps the present state of the term? Spread responsibility implying shared curatorship and the artist erasing the invisible line between the expert and the practitioner, making the term curatorship even fluffier, if not even hollow... Why not – let's go!

Invitation to Blink artist-workshop with Bojana Kunst in Malmö January 2012

Seizing of Time in Contemporary Performance

Seizing of Time in Contemporary Performance

Today we experience our life and work through constant acceleration of time, which is also stronglyinfluencing the ways how do we experience and organize the artistic practice. Contemporary economyof time deals a lot with efficient organization of the future, dealing with continuous projections,speculations and actualization of potentials. It is no wonder that contemporary artistic practice is also very often caught in the same projective temporal mode, with constant creation and actualization of proposals and projections; we are all the time creating projects, and our subjectivities are continuously flexible and synchronous. Therefore the research question in the workshop will be concentrated around the issue of time and specific temporality of the project. The focus will be especially on the relation between time and modes of working in contemporary performance. We will examine the question of time which is standing on the crossroad between cultural conditions in which dance and performance practitioners work and the specificity of performance practice (unfolding of time inperformance). How do contemporary artists work with time and materiality of time and how is this related to the time of watching and visiting the performance? Could we imagine and construct the ways of working in artistic practice, which are resisting to be included in the contemporary acceleration and actualisation of future projections? What is the role of slowness in artistic practice and how can we approach the issue of movement and working together through the perspective of time?

Bojana Kunst, 2011

Procedure

In our continuous work for exchange between Berlin and Sweden, Blink now arranges a workshop forperformance artists based in Berlin and/or in Sweden. The workshop is processed-based and expects a longer commitment than a regular one-week workshop. In concrete terms this means that participation also asks you to take part in a workshop-blog where texts by Bojana Kunst are shared and discussed regularly during one month before and one month after the five-days physical workshop takes place. We invite you to submit your application to participate, including a personal letter with a short motivation as well as a brief description of your artistic work. Please send it to us on contact@blnk.eubefore October 25 and you will have an answer latest November 5. For Berlin participators Blink will contribute with 100 € for your travel-costs and also arrange free accommodation in Malmö. The workshop is free for all participants. We have a limit of 15 participants and will make a selection based on the applications. The workshop is funded by Kulturkraft Syd.

October 25 deadline application

November 5 announcement participation list

December 1 blog opening

January 18-22 WORKSHOP Malmö Sweden at Inter Arts Center

February 28 last blog session

Bojana Kunst, is a philosopher and performance theoretician, dramaturge and teacher. She workscurrently as visiting professor at the University of Hamburg (Performance Studies). You can read hertexts on: www.kunstbody.wordpress.com

Blink, is a collaborative constellation between four dance artists: Malin Astner, Rosalind Goldberg,Thérèse Nylén and Emma Nordanfors. Blink explores stage art in Sweden and Berlin with a focus ondiscourses within contemporary dance. Blink seeks to highlight the transnational cultural geography, which has made mobility practically automatized for todayÊ¼s stage artist. We work for sustainable exchange generating regional and international connections. Regionally by spreading knowledge through workshops, lectures and performances, and internationally through contacts made between stage artists, venues, workshop participants and audience.

well into 2011 by now, Blink has been up to loads in the way of preparing ground for near-future curatorial and collaborative endeavours. Applications and concepts were our focus for this year's first few months, and in May we will eagerly go into a first action:

During this year's edition of the renowned Berlin theatre festival Theatertreffen Blink has the opportunity to collaborate with Stockholm-based network and production office W.I.S.P. (Women in Swedish Performing arts) for a 1-day workshop aimed at women working in performing arts. We are getting people from all over Europe to come and join us and contribute to making this workshop into something quite extraordinary.

A day of empowering, networking and strategy-making for a more fun and equal future!

Being a woman in the world of theatre has been shown in several reports, both in Sweden and abroad, to be disadvantageous for the career. The recently published report from FIA (International Federation of Actors) – Handbook of Good Practice – highlight this issue and points to good examples from all over Europe.

We want to respond with a playful and relaxing one-day workshop in Berlin, establishing a feministic free-space-oasis, where the creative juices are flowing in order to find supporting strategies for Women working within the Performing Arts. Let´s move from words to action!

There are many questions arising from working with combating stereotypes and creating equal opportunities. How to find the strategies needed to make a change? What is quality? Who defines quality? How to support and help initiate valuable networking methods? Can equality be taught, and who will then supply the tools?

Initiated and organised by W.I.S.P (Women In Swedish Performing arts) in cooperation with the Swedish Embassy, Theatertreffen, Akademie der Künste and BLINK

11-12 am Buddy hour – networking games on equality and power related questions

12-13.30 pm Sandwich action by BLINK

13.30-17 pm Pool Party – a W.I.S.P.y afternoon based on an Open Space – inspired discussion form to trace common concerns and distil strategies and visions for a future without glass roofs and gender stereotypes

The hosts of the day are Tove Sahlin, Johanna Skobe and Rebecca Vinthagen, project managers of W.I.S.P., a network and a production office based in Stockholm with over 800 members all over Sweden.

Berlin-based choreographer Eva Meyer Keller, who has worked with W.I.S.P.’s project “Open Art” in Stockholm, will also join us. Invited theatre directors from Sweden are Malin Axelsson, artistic director of Ung Scen Öst, and Sara Giese, freelance director. Also present and ready to disco are Rosalind Goldberg, Malin Astner, Emma Nordanfors and Thérése Nylén from BLINK, a process-oriented network that aims to promote a refined and specialised exchange of dance art in Sweden and Berlin with emphasis on contemporary dance discourses, networking and curatorial activity. WISP + BLINK means no dead-end seminars focusing on problems of being a woman within the Performing Arts, but rather on the actions we can take to make a change.

this is a Blink newsletter, reaching out to you now and then throughout 2011. When something is up for Blink you will know about it!

As you might or might not have noticed, we decided to close down the previous network forum on our webpage. Nevertheless, we would like to keep in contact with you and offer you this newsletter model to do that. If you do not wish to receive it, just send an empty reply mail and we will remove you from the list.

Blink's 2010 - the first year

Our webpage and Facebook sites kicked off in January 2010 and initiated Blink's public debut. Along with our virtual presence came the physical manifestation - we embodied an official launch within the frame of Tanztage Berlin 2010. Having created the monster, 2010 has been a lot about continuing to find out what it is all able to do and above all, what we wish it to be doing. Ideas around flexible structures and formlessness inspire our journey into 2011 towards new adventures.

During 2010 Blink made its first curatorial experience in the Perfect Wedding festival directed by Tanzfabrik Berlin. From October 1 - 3 we offered a premier of Jennie Lindström's piece I find I keep I find, Malin Elgàn's film Storyboard and a lecture about it, another lecture about collectivity with Elisa Ricci, and a public discussion around curatorship with Peter Stamer(Berlin), Heike Albrecht(Berlin) and Christina Molander(Stockholm).

Blink received a Studiostipendium (studio grant) from the Swedish Art Committee's International Dance Programme. In November we created a 10 days' think tank intensive for us in order to discuss, develop and define what Blink is all about with four invitees; Myriam Mazzoni (Dansbyran, Göteborg), Natik Awayez (Inkonst, Malmö), Gustav Iziamo (Guacho, produktionsplattform) och Igor Dobricic (dramaturge). Incredibly valuable days bringing new impulses and awaking old ones anew - fantastic is an understatement..!

Contacts have been made, plans and projects are in process and we are looking forward to a next year which looks like good work to us.

So, moving into 2011, shaving off the beard we grew during this old year and entering the new one with baby-smooth cheeks, sparkle-eyed and illusioned, we wish for all of you networkers to come along with us and plunge into a

On 22/11 Blink will start its residency at Konstnärsnämnden. On our schedule sits 10 days of on-going discussions with four invited professionals working in international art contexts. Blink make international collaborations happen and kicks new visions into the dance art practice. We aim to develop and define further strategies for collaborative processes and share them with our network as well as use them for future projects.

We will open our on-going discussion and are inviting you to take part of it! Come and meet us at Maria Skolgata 83 on the following evenings at 18hrs:

Tuesday 30/11 Blink has invited Igor Dobricic (www.almostreal.org) to create his "Table Talk" at Konstnärsnämden in collaboration with voluntary participants - sign up by sending an email- conformation to: contact@blnk.eu

We will start around 13.00 and go on until dinnertime. Don´t miss this opportunity!

Participants will create a table with dramaturge and artist Igor Dobricic. Table is one of the simplest man made artifacts. Beyond its inherent domesticity, table is in the same time an objectified micro version if a city square and a stage, where separation and multiplicity of encounters are performed. As such, table is an accurate metaphor for two interrelated social and political phenomena - a public space and a theatre. "Table Talks" is based on an intentionally naive belief that complexity of a shared creative process can be condensed in a singular group act: making of a concrete, simple, material object - a table. Igor Dobricic has been developing "Table Talks" since two years, giving the different tables to the locations and institutions as a gift.

To read more about "Table Talks" please read attached invitation or go to www.blnk.eu

Storyboardis a film by dramaturge and choreographer Malin Elgán, who edited the film material from the groundwork of her latest dance performance Formen sa: gör(The form said: do, 2007) together with dancer Tove Salmgren. Storyboard follows the choreographic concept from Formen sa: görand consists of clips from a wide range of feature films and documentaries, which served as models for the dancers and their movements in the performance. Storyboard is a movie that bypasses the idea of the recording moment as film process’s actually starting point, which in turn makes the idea of originality insignificant. The film and performance were presented at Moderna Museet in Stockholm and at Göteborgs Konsthall.

7,- / 5,- Euro inkl. Lecture 1.10. Elisa Ricci / 2.10. Malin Elgan

With support from Swedish Arts Grants Committee and The Swedish Institute

Blink presents: Lecture # 1

1.10. 18 h

A lecture on curatorial practices in the field of dance and performing arts by Elisa Ricci (in English)

Elisa Ricci is currently participating in the Research Master in Dance Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, were she is researching in the field of critical, collective curatorial practices. She collaborates with artists as a dramaturge and co-author and as a curator she initiates independent projects like “Performing Translation” concerned with issues of translation and migration.

Theory in progress and Blink present: Lecture # 2

2.10. 18 h

A lecture by Swedish choreographer Malin Elgán (in English)

Malin Elgáns work is described as "not made to please but pleases those who want to be challenged". In her lecture Malin Elgáns will talk about the creation and process of Storyboard and give an insight in the artistic methods and praxis.

I find I keep I find - Jennie Lindström

3.10. 19 h (90 min)

“I find I keep I find” reproduces material from pieces listed in Lindströms resume from 2000 until today. From different approaches and perspectives she displays some of the physical and psychological memories that she acquired throughout her career as a dancer. With the notion of a self-portrait as a starting-point she explores the dancer's role towards her/his own professional history, and towards the history of dance in general: In what respect does a dancer's history constitute an authorship in it's own right? The piece is presented as a collection of discrete intervals, but rather than suggesting an ordered continuity in time Lindström wishes for them to be in a continuous now.

13,- / 8,- Euro

Audience-talk, after performance, Moderation Blink

Supported by Swedish Arts Grants Committee.

Blink-talk

Presentation | Context | Curator-ship

3.10. 17 h (90 min)

Moderator: Kristin Tovson

Panel: Peter Stamer, Heike Albrecht and Christina Molander

Blink: Rosalind Goldberg, Emma Nordanfors and Malin Astner

Supported by the Swedish Institute.

Free Entrance

Blink wants to open up for interaction and is arranging a discussion around the topics: context of presentation and curator-ship by focusing on the following questions: How is dance being curated today? What interests exists from the dance-scene, audience and venues? Which are the possible benefits and how open are the artists themselves to be curated to a given context? Do we need curators in the future and is curation another expression for artistic work?

In the panel is Peter Stamer, known from the Berlin dance-scene with Tanznacht and much more. Heike Albrecht, artistic director at Sophiensaele, Berlin and Christina Molander, former artistic director at Moderna Dansteatern in Stockholm, Sweden.

PERFECT CURATOR 18.9 - 3.10

dear Blink-friends,
tomorrow the festival Perfect Wedding is starting, as well as Blink's preparation, opinion-gathering, think-tanking and discussion around curator-ship. This will go on until the last day of the festival, the grande final, our Blink-Talk the 3:rd of October, where we invite you to take part in any way for you possible, joining us in Uferstudios, here on facebook, or both.
We are collecting 10 statements for or against curatorship, send them to us or post them on our wall, some of them might be published on our physical Blinkboard in Wedding.
join in, take part, think, act and discuss!
yours sincerely
Blink

lets start!
- So is curation an artistic statement ?
or is it the capitalism of art?
- What is the context of curatorship—how is this created and what purpose does it serve? (the importance/difference of the context of venues—institutions vs. festivals vs. public spaces…)
- Is independence in curatorship ever possible--in terms of funding, politics (who has to answer to who) ?
- Does curation need to be a collective process?
- How are we currently defining curatorship and is this different (even if only subtly) from programming?